Month: January 2017

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PWTE Daily Devotion

From Rust to Riches

Coquille River Lighthouse, Bandon, Oregon

God is doing a new work in our lives.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking this SoundCloud link.

Some people create a bucket list of things they want to do before they die. I have a bucket list for each year. I began making a yearly bucket list in 2016 and only accomplished one item out of my list of five that year. Visiting the Coquille River Lighthouse was that one thing.

Coquille River Lighthouse, Bandon, Oregon

A great deal of money was waiting for those who harvested timber upstream on the Coquille River, but the river’s mouth made access to that timber difficult. The U.S. government built a jetty on the south side of the river to make the river navigable. Construction on the lighthouse then began in 1895. And the Fourth Order Fresnel lens cast its light for the first time on February 29, 1896.

Like many of the lighthouses on the Oregon Coast, the Coquille River Lighthouse had a short life as it was decommissioned by the Coast Guard in 1939 after which the lighthouse fell into disrepair. The lighthouse was restored in 1979 and now stands as monument to its former glory.

God is in the business of taking our broken, abandoned lives and making us into something new.

“And the one seated on the throne said, ‘Listen to me! I’m making all things new.’ And he said, ‘Write this down for these words are trustworthy and true.'” 
Revelation 21:5

In the same way that the Bandon, Oregon community restored this lighthouse, God is restoring us. The rust will return to our lives as it has on the lighthouse, yet God reminds us of the riches he has poured out on our lives in his Son Jesus. These riches are new every morning.

I’ve used this passage with members of Holy Cross who are homebound. Their lives are changing with the aging process. How is God doing a new work in these people whose lives are filled with pain?

Paul uses different words for what John experienced in his revelation.

“Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” 
2 Corinthians 4:16 English Standard Version

Even though our bodies struggles with aging, God is doing a new work in us day after day after day. May you experience this newness from God as you await the day when all things will forever be made new.

Text and Picture Copyright Douglas P Brauner

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PWTE Daily Devotion

Come on In!

Jesus Invites You In…

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” Psalm 122:1

I remember a time when going to church was a chore.  I was a boy that more than one of my teachers posited might be somewhat “hyperactive,” and sitting through long liturgies and sermons was not my idea of a good time.

I distinctly remember many trivial details of our sanctuary; the blonde colored wooden pews, the ornate high hanging light fixtures, the high arching beams.  But was I “glad… to go to the house of the Lord?”  Not so much.

What changed for me?  I still worship in pretty much the same sanctuary with the same pews, lights, and beams.  But somewhere in my spiritual journey I met Jesus.  Jesus invited me into His presence, into His family, into His love.

And when I go into the church, I sense His presence everywhere.  In the Word, in the Sacrament, among His people, His body.  Jesus invited me in, and I am glad.  I am glad to hear Him, see Him, feel Him, be with Him.  I am glad when He says to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.”

Jesus invites you in, also.  Not just into a building or a gathering of people.  But into a living, loving relationship with Him.  He welcomes you into His presence and there you will find rest for your soul.  There you can sit quietly and talk with the most wonderful Friend and Lord in the universe.

Dear Jesus, thank you for inviting me into Your presence, into Your house.  Open my eyes to see You in Your Word, Your Supper, Your body.  Thank you that you love me and that you opened the door to You  and the Father through Your cross.  Amen.

Picture and Text Copyright Steve Nickodemus

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PWTE Daily Devotion

Seeking God

“Lord, are you there?”

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“If you seek Him, He will be found by you…”
1 Chronicles 28:9b

The stairs seem to go on forever at Silver Creek Falls.  “Will we ever get to the end?” asks the tired hiker.  It’s been a long day and he is anxious to reach the journey’s end.

Does your journey seem to stretch out before you forever?  Does each day seem the same as the last and you grow tired and weary?  Does your spiritual journey seem tiresome and do you feel alone and without hope?

Or maybe you have been seeking an answer from God and He doesn’t seem to answer or even show Himself interested in your quest.  Perhaps you have been seeking rest, respite, healing, forgiveness, or resolution.  Will the Lord hear you?  Will you ever get relief?

“If you seek Him, He will be found by you.” The words stood out to me from the pages of my Bible.  God’s promise to me on a weary journey, words of assurance to a stressed traveler.  And from Isaiah, even more assurance, “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak… those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.”

Life is not an endless stairway that leads to nothing.  But for those who believe in Jesus Christ, there is hope, there is strength, there is rest.  Our Lord Jesus has trodden the way of sorrows for you and me, His promises are not empty words, but words of life for the weary traveler.

If you seek Him, He will be found.  For when you sought Him not, He came looking for you.  And He who knows every hair of your head and every sparrow that flies, will not forget you for whom He suffered and died.

Lord Jesus, in my seeking, grant me faith in your love and promises for me.  Amen.

Text and Picture Copyright Steve Nickodemus